BENTONVILLE, Ark. – An Osage creation story came to life on an outdoor stage here in the tribe’s ancestral territory thanks to collective artistic creativity and tribal community members working together as the Wahzhazhe Puppet Theater to share the oral tradition in visual form.
The Osage creative directors and cast members traveled from Oklahoma to perform “Sky E’ko Tells Stories of Way Back” on Oct. 11 during the inaugural KaniniFest held at The Momentary. The three-day festival showcased five BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) playwrights, each presenting their unique one-act plays.
In 2022, the Wazhazhe Puppet Theater launched and “is driven by the vision of Welana Queton (Osage, Cherokee, Muscogee Creek), who serves as the Artistic Director and Theatrical Producer. Welana brought together a talented team, including Playwright Candice Byrd-Boney (Osage, Cherokee, Quapaw) and Stage Director Russ Tallchief (Osage). With the support of the Osage Nation Museum, they led a collaborative community-focused process that involved Osage artists, musicians, and performers. Together, they created larger-than-life puppets and a remarkable performance that vividly conveys the Osage worldview and values,” according to the festival website.
The play is an adaptation of the Puma Clan’s version of the Osage people’s creation story featuring large and handmade puppetry figures controlled by cast members to tell the story narrated by Byrd-Boney. This event comes two years after the Wahzhahzhe Puppet Theater’s debut performances during the Osage Nation’s 150th Sesquicentennial Commemoration held in Pawhuska on Oct. 22.









Event Co-producer Tenisi Davis introduced the performance and acknowledged the significance of the Osage-created play where Osage had a presence before moving to present-day Oklahoma. “We talked about the ‘You Belong Here’ sign (illuminated at the venue) and what does (it) actually mean? And for us (it) is talking about the Osage people, the Quapaw people, this is their land, this is where they were, this is the place that they were removed three times in their history. So, to be able to be here at this place, at this time, to have them here is a blessing for us all,” Davis said.
In a May 2023 Smithsonian Folk Festival blog, Queton recounted the Wahzhazhe Puppet Theater’s founding that led to the first performances, stating: “Our people have a saying: Wash-kon – ‘Do your best.’ The Wahzhazhe Puppet Theatre was created with this concept in mind, showcasing a community-based approach to artistic creation that closely aligns with our communal traditions. We engaged over 100 people in the project, including 30 performers. Our unique approach, puppets, and stories honor our complex history and ideology and present a method for contemporary Osage to discover and create meaningful narratives of their own.
“In the future, we will strive to create more plays and large-scale puppets to keep the memory of our oral stories and histories alive. We uncover other stories to write about and new characters to develop each time we gather. Ultimately, we seek to use our community-based model to work with other tribal communities and help them make their stories come to life.”